Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 43

I checked the list for you on the celebrity air dates. Those are the episodes with repeat street stories and words of the day. The next episode isn't due for the 12th, Next Friday.

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So are they just doing one new ep a week now? That's kind of strange.

It's a shame that Grover didn't show up out of costume with a new incarnation of George, to perform a remake of "Two G Sounds": thousands of fans remember that song, and some even play it for their own children. That oversight is especially ironic since most of the new songs emphasized the hard-G sound, not the soft one that made that Muppet G feel left out. (Yes, Super Grover might have mentioned "giraffe" in that hero anthem, but that's the only soft-G example I recall being buried among "I am the guardian of galaxies...my muscles are gargantuan" and so on.)

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That would really have been neat. You see what I mean. They have so many things from the old days that they don't even think about.

It's a kind of easy way to spread the episodes out; The new Electric Company series would do that. I don't like that only half the season is being broadcast through November and the rest won't air until Feb., but they're currently filming those shows (if I'm understanding Stephanie D'Abruzzo's site correctly), so it could all be a money issue.

It's a kind of easy way to spread the episodes out; The new Electric Company series would do that. I don't like that only half the season is being broadcast through November and the rest won't air until Feb., but they're currently filming those shows (if I'm understanding Stephanie D'Abruzzo's site correctly), so it could all be a money issue.

Budget issues? Performer availability issues? Who knows. Season 42 started filming practically right when filming for M11 ended. And filming for season 43 would've been in the fall, when a few some of the performers wouldn't be able to be on set due to promotions, so they got done as much as they could early I guess.

Budget issues? Performer availability issues? Who knows. Season 42 started filming practically right when filming for M11 ended. And filming for season 43 would've been in the fall, when a few some of the performers wouldn't be able to be on set due to promotions, so they got done as much as they could early I guess.

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I'm telling you, they better fix their filming schedules, or we'll get this every season.

It's not like it's their fault. You gotta be a little more understanding. None of us want to wait a two-month wait between new episodes, but if that's the way it is, then we have to deal with it.

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Arthur's worse. It's basically a 5-6 month long wait for a season of 10 episodes, split up into 5 episodes sometime in October, 5 episodes sometime in May. Especially grating, as the last 2 seasons were seen all at once overseas.

Brandais was a much more engaging and charmingly funny character than I expected. Considering the character basically came out of no where, I did end up caring about him and the episode, rather than being annoyed that the show focused on a newcomer. I especially liked the car insurance gag.

I'm half and half so far on the People in your Neighborhood segment. It's clearly intended to replace the science based Murray tune ins from last year. But the best part of it was that it carried over to the sponsor announcement at the end. Those are getting slightly better, considering they were the same joke with a slightly varied background and redubbed numbers and letters.

In the Abby segment, I don't know whether to be disappointed they didn't make the reference to "We're gonna need a bigger boat" or to applaud them for having restraint. I'm loving that Blogg HATES Twinklethinking. And I, for one, do not miss Spot.

Airplane the Musical has to be the funniest one so far. The "Get me to the Church on Time" parody must have been the first direct parody of an actual song from a musical, rather than a vague "in the style of" original. Elmo getting exasperated by the annoying penguin bridezilla, her wanting pigs as bridesmaids (very nice stealth gag/parental bonus there). And they really got to the action this time. Elmo knew off the bat what the musical of the day should be. I hope this makes it to future installments.

OH! And the S cartoon was simply superb! They need a LOT more of that.

And too bad they didn't make any more Salty and Pierres... those were just too good.

Brandeis was an excellent addition. I love how John Tartaglia put personality and humor into this character. I'm a dog lover so I loved the street story a lot. I think a lot of people that have their own service dog would like this episode, too. Plus, it's a good way to educate kids about what service dogs can do. I hope to see more of Brandeis and his new person.

I liked the street story. I thought John Tartagila did a good job with Brandeis. I think the British girl is adorable. The Word of the Day was cute. The new Murray tune-ins were cool. The new AFFS was good. I love that the animators are getting more loose. The new ETM was good. I loved Elmo getting annoyed at the penguin.

I'm half and half so far on the People in your Neighborhood segment. It's clearly intended to replace the science based Murray tune ins from last year. But the best part of it was that it carried over to the sponsor announcement at the end. Those are getting slightly better, considering they were the same joke with a slightly varied background and redubbed numbers and letters.

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I don't know about that. It seems like Murray's rap version of "People in Your Neighborhood" has really done some damage to Bob McGrath's original version. I think maybe that's something they should consider, keeping Murray for letters and numbers, but when they do "People in Your Neighborhood," I'd like to see Bob come back and host that portion of the show. It would give him more airtime. Again, just a thought.

OK I admit the idea of a Muppet service dog is kinda adorable, lol.

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I liked the concept as well. I think the idea of teaching about service dogs is good for children. I'm a dog lover too and I have recently learned about service dogs. In fact my aunt sent me a CD one time that told a story about a lady and how her service dogs helped her.

I must admit though, I had Linda and Barkley in mind though. Even though Barkley wasn't really a service dog, he did help Linda at times since he could hear and she couldn't. I know Linda's not on the show anymore, but it would have been nice to have a mention of that.

Oscarfan, are you still getting files of the new episodes? It'd be great for Muppet Wiki, cause then we'd have guides for all the episodes this season unlike last season.

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Again, you should be more understanding, somethings people can't help. Last season, someone was putting the eps. on a torrent site and they we're going post most of the second half, but they hadn't gotten around to it. Soon after they said so, the site went down and hasn't been up since. I haven't gotten the latest episode yet, but I'm hoping Philip will send it and I'm patient until then; I'm not in a rush or anything.

Again, you should be more understanding, somethings people can't help. Last season, someone was putting the eps. on a torrent site and they we're going post most of the second half, but they hadn't gotten around to it. Soon after they said so, the site went down and hasn't been up since. I haven't gotten the latest episode yet, but I'm hoping Philip will send it and I'm patient until then; I'm not in a rush or anything.

SS.org's section of ETM has paper dolls of his outfits based on the segments. New ones are "unlocked" as each segment debuts. So based off that, here's what the ETM airings seem to be for the rest of this half of the season:

4308 - Circus the Musical

4311 - President the Musical

4313 - Cowboy the Musical (I haven't found a source for a Cowboy segment, but a Cowboy costume is what's unlocked that day)

EDIT: I'm watching the Brandeis ep. now and I wonder with John T. felt a similarity to Princeton when filming this episode.

The next episode is on tomorrow for some reason (I double checked the WGBH schedule). I have to ask. This episode was filmed during the season 41. Was there a specific reason why this was held over for 2 years? Was it because of one of the initiative videos was fashioned into an episode or something?